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A $1,500 fine a day

PRINCETON — The Princeton City Council voted Monday night to force Vissering Construction Co. of Streator to finish the water treatment plant by June 4 or face a fine of up to $1,500 a day, retroactive to May 4.

Commissioners voted to give the general contractor a 30-day time extension with no penalty, even though the required date for the plant to be finished was May 4.

City manager Jeff Clawson told commissioners city officials have been working with the general contractor on its inability to complete the plant by the required due date of May 4 of this year.

“He wanted to discuss all lost time and come up with a complicated formula to determine how much additional time they should be granted,” Clawson wrote in a memo sent to Mayor Keith Cain and the four commissioners.

“I suggested that we would give them a blanket additional 30 days to get to substantial completion without documentation or wasting time debating their request,” said Clawson.

The general contractor has agreed to accept a 30-day time extension with no penalty for that period of time, said Clawson. In turn, the city will not allow any future discussions for time extension in reference to anything that happened prior to May 4.

Commissioner Joel Quiram said the city entered into a good-faith contract with Vissering to complete the project by May 4 of this year. The city needs to abide by the contract and charge them $1,500 a day, he added.

Clawson said the $1,500 a day fine would motivate the firm, or funds would be withheld from the city’s payment of the project.

Commissioner Bob Warren suggested the city make the $1,500 a day fine be retroactive to May 4, if the project is not completed by June 4. “This will get their attention and be a monetary enticement,” said Warren.

Warren’s amended motion including the retroactive fine was approved on a 5-0 vote.